Which reginal treats it's employees'....

[JeremyAV8R]

Which Reginal Airlines treat it's pilots best? Contract, pay, schedule, Etc. Also, which Reginal Airlines, do you predict, to grow, and be stable."Looking in the crystal ball," if needed.

I'm just interested in hearing what your experiances are, along with the facts about their policys'.

Jeremy

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

AIR WISCONSIN

They have by far and away the best contract, they are growing, they are hiring. They have the only (I think) 100% company funded "B" plan retirement plan-like AA/UAL, etc.

In my opinion, the next group is ACA/ASA/Comair/SkyWest/Horizon - they are all good.

Cliff
GRB

 

[Beechnut]

Air Wis is a good place to be, but we do not have a company funded "B" plan.

S.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I've read about the company funded retirement plan in several places, I guess wrongly?

There is none at all, only a 401K like everyone else?

Was this proposed in the contract talks and didn't get in?

Has this been discussed for the future?

Please let me know/give details. If this is wrong, I need to correct this info for some people.

Cliff
GRB

 

[Rotorhead]

They HAD one....it went away with the last contract

 

[Andy Neill]

I guess this will go into the "Can you top this?" category. Let me give some scenarios that highlight the Policy Manual provisions at SkyWest:

A. You are scheduled to do six legs of an hour each. Your actual times for alternate legs are 1:10 and 0:50 due to head/tail winds. At SkyWest, you will be paid for scheduled or actual, whichever is higher on a leg by leg basis. So you will actually fly 6:00 but get paid for 6:30.

B. You are scheuled to fly two legs at the end of the day for 2:00 but, due to weather or maintenance, the flights are cancelled. You are paid for the trips.

C. You have a very strange schedule of 9 days of 1:30 flight time and 9 days of 7:30 flight time. As a minimum, you will be paid 3:45 for the light days and 7:30 for the heavy days for a total of 101:15 for flying 81 hours. This highlights the presence of a TRUE minimum daily as opposed to the 30 day lookback variety.

Although SkyWest does not have ALL the features that some contracts have (commuter policy, trip rig, etc.) I think that it has the BEST overall package dollar for dollar for comparable aircraft (CRJ and Brasilia) for the pilot group than can be found anywhere.

Those who would dispute this might want to start with the figures paid for A, B, and C scenarios at their airline operating CRJ and or Brasilia.

 

[Lampshade]

Air Wisconsins retirement plan has a 4% company contributuion of your annual salary to the 401k plus up to a 3% match of your annual salary to your 401k if you contribute 7% or more. This is a total of 7% of you annual salary into a 401k this goes up to 8% 01/01/2004.


Lampshade

 

[Andy Neill]

SkyWest's 401k is a 1:1 match for the first 2% at 1 year, the first 4% at 5 years and the first 6% at 10 years. In addition, employees with over 2 years share in the distribution of 5% of the company annual profits in the 401k. This amounted to about 3% of annual pay last year and 4-5% the year before that.

With that, an old timer at SkyWest could get 9-11% from the company by contributing 6%. At Air Wisconsin, it sounds as if one would need to contribute 7% to get 8% next year. A new guy (over 2 years) at SkyWest could get 5% from the company by contributing 2% or 3% by contributing nothing. Did I give the right figures on the Air Wisconsin side?

 

[JeremyAV8R]

How much can you make working for a reginal? If you don't mind me asking. Is it a huge chunk less than the Majors? What are the diffrences?

 

[rightrudder]

At Air Wisconsin, you don't have to contribute a single cent to get a 4% of your salary + overtime company contribution to a 401k plan. That is regardless of company profits. It is company funded.

 

[nimtz]

Although SkyWest does not have ALL the features that some contracts have (commuter policy, trip rig, etc.) I think that it has the BEST overall package dollar for dollar for comparable aircraft (CRJ and Brasilia) for the pilot group than can be found anywhere.

By the time we are all said and done with negotiations at Expressjet, your 'Policy Manual' will be what it really is; a pathetic joke. It's time for small jet pilots to step up and with the addition of 300+ furlought mainline pilots to our seniority list, I believe Expressjet will get the job done. Skywest needs a union, plain and simple, or else you will become the new CHQ that management uses to whipsaw around.

 

[Andy Neill]

So to make sure I understand, how much would an Air Wisconsin pilot need to contribute to get 9-11% from the company in his 401k?

By the time we are all said and done with negotiations at Expressjet, your 'Policy Manual' will be what it really is; a pathetic joke.

Eager to see what you come up with. We are all for keeping pressure on the top end. SkyWest will be negotiating the pay package in the spring and it looks like Horizon and company will be the standard to match. We'll see.

 

[rightrudder]

Andy,

I'm not trying to get into a "my airline has a better contract than your airline" confrontation here. There are aspects of my airline's agreement that are just as good if not better than yours, and i'm sure that is true that there are some areas that are better in your Company's agreement.

I just wanted to clarify that we do in fact get a guaranteed level of retirement benefit, since there was some discussion earlier of that subject. That's all.

And Mr. Expressjet, you need to show some class. Obviously, Skywest pilots and management are able to work together in a mutually beneficial manner. Their wages and benefits are at least industry standard. In fact, Skywest and ACA both cost UAL more than Air Wisconsin does, so don't think that the lack of a union contract somehow makes them less expensive for major partners to use.

I keep hearing from a number of Expressjet guys how you are going to come up with the greatest contract ever. Given your company's and pilot group's contract history, I would be surprised if that happens. Nevertheless, good luck with your negotiations.

RR

 

[Lampshade]

Andy,

Did you ever work for Enron? You can't retire on "coulds"! What exactly does Skywest provide for retirement. At Wisconsin everyone gets the benefits not just old "timers".

Pilot Elective Deferral------- Company Matching Contribution
3% -4%----------------------------------------1%
5% -6%----------------------------------------2%
7 % + ----------------------------------------3%

Plus the 4% company paid contribution

You put in 7% or more, company matches 3%+4%=7% you put in 0% company still gives you 4%. So the max is 7% right now ('04 goes up to 8%) but it's available right away to the pilots you do not have to wait 10 years.

Thats how I see it.

Lampshade

 

[Andy Neill]

Never worked for Enron and missed the "can't retire on clouds" reference but not a big deal.

I agree that it is good to get the maximum company contribution from the beginning rather than having to wait 10 years to max (or 5 years to match AW). You may have misunderstood that SkyWest 401k contributions gfrom the company and the worker are also 100% vested from day 1.

I think I allowed for specific aspects of our respective agreements having better or lesser features, but I remain with my assertion that I believe the best overall package on compensation and benefits for Brasilia and CRJ operators resides at SkyWest. YMMV.